“You thought John Morrissey could find it for you,” Slater said.
“Morrissey worked for the Foundation, but he had a nice little drug operation going on the side. He used to purchase specimens from me.”
“Are you trying to tell us you and Morrissey were business colleagues?” Catalina said.
“More like competitors,” Slater said. “Right, Trevelyan?”
“Yes,” Nyla said. “But for a time our interests were aligned.”
“You became allies?” Catalina said.
“Morrissey certainly thought so,” Nyla said. “But it would be more accurate to say that I found him useful. Morrissey wasn’t a botanist. He got into the drug business to finance his private research. He was convinced he had found a way to tune a kind of paranormal compass so that it could be used to navigate the caves. He was sure he could find the main lab facility here in Fogg Lake with it.”
“But unfortunately the person who accompanied him that night fifteen years ago acted too quickly,” Catalina said. “He murdered Morrissey and then he realized there were witnesses.”
“You and Olivia,” Nyla agreed. “I should have gone into the caves myself that night, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I stayed with the boat.”
“You did not want to leave a hot trail behind inside the caves in case someone from the Foundation showed up to investigate,” Slater said. “I knew there had to be a local connection.”
“For nearly two decades I’ve been trapped here in Fogg Lake,” Nyla said. “I’ve been afraid to leave for more than a few days at a time because I’ve been terrified the bastards at the Foundation would realize I didn’t die in that lab fire that killed my bastard of a husband and his girlfriend.”
“Well, damn,” Slater said softly. “You’re Alma York, aren’t you? The chemist who murdered her husband and two women in one of the Foundation labs twenty years ago.”
“He was fucking that bitch,” Nyla said, her voice tight with fury. “I trusted both of them. Helen made me believe that she was my best friend. I actually thought Greg loved me. The three of us had a nice little drug business going.”
“You’re in this for the money?” Catalina said, shocked. “You’re a scientist.”
Nyla reacted with genuine outrage. “The street drugs were supposed to finance our real work after the three of us left the Foundation. We knew we had to get out while we could because the Rancourts had found out about the drug business and wanted a cut. Helen and Greg and I had a plan. We were going to disappear and set up a lab on a private island. We would do brilliant research in the field of paranormal drugs. Then I found Greg and Helen in bed together. They were planning to set me up. They said they didn’t need me. I acted first. Self-defense.”
“But you botched the job,” Slater said. “I’m told the explosion in the lab was impressive, and so was the fire that followed. You even made sure the remains of three bodies were found in the wreckage, one male and two females. Who was the other woman, by the way? Uncle Victor and Uncle Lucas opened an investigation after they took over the Foundation, but they were never able to identify her.”
“She was just an addict who had been living on the streets for years,” Nyla said. “She was about my size and age. I didn’t think your uncles would go to the trouble of running a DNA test. The Rancourts certainly didn’t give a damn.”
“You don’t know Victor and Lucas very well,” Slater said. “They told me they were suspicious from the start. But the case had gone very cold by the time Victor became director. He and Lucas didn’t have a lot to go on.”
“I thought I could just disappear,” Nyla said. “I had cosmetic surgery to change my face. I got a new identity. But I never felt safe. All these years I’ve been looking over my shoulder, watching for those damn cleaners.”
“So you sought refuge in Fogg Lake,” Catalina said. “The one place you assumed the Foundation would probably never think to look for you.”
“And even if they did send someone, you would have plenty of warning,” Slater added. “Because this is a close-knit community. Everyone knows everyone else, and the community as a whole regards the Foundation with deep suspicion.”
“You created the perfect cover for yourself,” Catalina said. “You became the local healer.”
“I hate this town,” Nyla said.
“What was in that tisane you made for Olivia and me?” Catalina asked.
“A hallucinogen that had the benefit of making users confuse their memories with dreams,” Nyla said. “I tried to add a hypnotic suggestion, too. But there was no way to know how long the effects would last.”
Catalina sensed the strange stillness that signaled the fog-bound lake. She was very glad Nyla was in the lead, because walking along the water’s edge was dangerous enough in the daytime. At night it was foolhardy.
Nyla stopped in front of a mass of vines that glowed with a faint blue sheen. She pulled the greenery aside as if it were a curtain. Catalina saw the rowboat.
“Be careful when you get in,” Nyla said. “If you go overboard it’s very unlikely that you’ll come out alive. In fact, they probably won’t even find your body.”
She made sure Catalina, Slater and the two clones were seated before she carefully got aboard herself. She untied the rope that secured the craft to the trunk of a tree. She sat down in the back of the boat and picked up a long pole.
Catalina held her breath as Nyla used the pole to guide the rowboat toward the entrance of a partially flooded cave.
The boat glided silently into the deep darkness of a cavern. Tony switched on a flashlight, revealing the tunnel walls. In several places, large stalactites and rocky outcroppings loomed dangerously low over the water.
“Keep your heads down,” Nyla advised. “It’s a little tight in places.”
Catalina shivered. Even though it was cold, she was sweating. It helped that the boat was moving, but the unrelenting darkness all around combined with the unknown depths of the cave river was unnerving. She focused on the thought that she would see Olivia soon. Unless Nyla was lying.
“When did you realize Catalina and Olivia had discovered the main lab facility on the night Morrissey was murdered?” Slater asked.
“Not until a few days ago,” Nyla said. “I finally tracked down one of the old logbooks from the Fogg Lake facility. It described the generator chamber the lab had constructed. I could not believe that all those years ago I had come so close to what I’d been looking for. But at the time I thought the girls really were hallucinating when they described what they called a ballroom.”
“You looked for the logbook first in Ingram’s collection, didn’t you?” Catalina said.
“There were rumors that he had just acquired a cache of valuable Fogg Lake lab artifacts,” Nyla said. “There were several interesting items in his vault, but nothing that described the generator chamber or anything else that was useful.”
“But six months later you heard more rumors,” Slater said. “This time it was about Royston’s collection. You talked him into showing you the items in his vault. When you saw the logbook you knew it was what you were looking for.”
“Everyone in the artifacts world knew that Royston was a very careful man. He wouldn’t let someone he did not know into his vault. So I sent another collector to see him, someone he considered a rival. Royston was only too happy to show off the latest additions to his vault.”
“That person murdered Royston and stole the logbook,” Slater said, “and probably several other artifacts as well.”
“The only thing I cared about was the logbook,” Nyla said. “It recorded the results of several experiments conducted in a special power-generating chamber developed in the Fogg Lake lab.”
“It was the description of the chamber that made you realize Catalina and Olivia had found it fifteen years ago,” Slater said.
&nbs
p; “Fifteen years wasted.”
“You sent the clones to grab Olivia and me in Seattle,” Catalina said.
“What’s with the clone shit?” Jared demanded.
Catalina ignored him. “They succeeded in kidnapping Olivia, but by the time they came for me, Slater had arrived on the scene.”
“I swear, it seems that everything that could have gone wrong with this project has gone wrong,” Nyla said. “But now I’ve got you and Olivia, who, I’m sorry to say, hasn’t been of much help.”
“Maybe because you shot her full of drugs?” Catalina asked.
“Conducting experiments on human subjects is something of a challenge around here,” Nyla admitted. “I may have had the team use a little too much of the drug on Olivia. It’s been two days and she’s still groggy and delusional. Now that I’ve got you I won’t have to take the risk of making a similar mistake.”
“Why should either of us help you find the main lab facility?” Catalina asked. “You’ll just murder us afterward.”
“No,” Nyla said. “I will give you a dose of the drug that I gave you fifteen years ago. You’ll get the two-point-oh version. I’ve perfected it. You won’t remember anything this time.”
It didn’t take paranormal-grade intuition to know that Nyla was lying, but Catalina kept her mouth shut. The atmosphere got a little colder. Slater had jacked up his talent again.
They rounded a bend in the underground river. Artificial light glowed inside the entrance of what looked like a man-made tunnel.
“There’s the infirmary,” Jared said. “About time.”
He sounded hugely relieved. He isn’t the only one, Catalina thought.
Seconds later the boat bumped gently against an old wooden dock.
Nyla got out first and dealt with the ropes. Catalina stood and stepped carefully onto the dock. Jared and Tony followed. When they were safely out of the boat they ordered Slater to stand and step onto the dock.
Catalina followed Nyla through the opening and stopped at the sight of the large chamber inside. It was furnished with a lot of metal and glass cabinets and workbenches that all appeared to be the same vintage as the items in the ruins of the old power generator control room. The chemistry apparatus on the workbenches, however, looked modern and sophisticated.
On one side of the room a figure huddled under a thin blanket on an old-fashioned hospital gurney.
“Olivia.” Catalina started toward her.
“Stop,” Nyla said. “Or I will give her a dose of the same thing that was used on Royston and Ingram.”
Catalina halted.
Olivia sat up suddenly. “Cat. I was afraid she would get you, too. Meet the mad scientist of Fogg Lake. All these years we thought she was such a nice person. You’d think a town full of people with good intuition could have figured it out sooner.”
“Shut up,” Nyla ordered.
Catalina rounded on her. “How could you do this, Nyla? You’ve known Olivia and me since we were kids. You know our parents. You’re a healer. How can you betray your friends like this? Fogg Lake took you in and sheltered you.”
“Only because the people in this town desperately needed someone who didn’t think they were all crazy, someone who knew how to treat their parapsych problems. They thought it was safe to let me live here because I was alone. I wasn’t a threat.”
“Any way you look at it, Fogg Lake has been a refuge for you,” Catalina said. “This is how you repay the town?”
“I said shut up.” Nyla’s voice rose in a shriek that sounded precariously unstable. She regained control and glared at Olivia. “Congratulations on your remarkable recovery. You’re a very good actress, I’ll give you that. But now that I have Catalina, I no longer have any reason to keep you alive. If you want to live through this, you will do exactly as you’re told.”
CHAPTER 33
Slater stood quietly absorbing the heavy vibes of the various artifacts in the chamber. It was not unlike the sensation he got when he was inside the vault of a collector or when he went down into the basement of Gwendolyn Swan’s antiques shop. But everything in this room was a whole lot hotter. He was trying to figure out why.
It made sense that there would be some strong energy in the atmosphere. The infirmary was, after all, part of the Fogg Lake lab. In addition, Nyla had been using the chamber to conduct experiments involving chemicals with paranormal properties for years. That meant everything in the room had been exposed to a lot of ambient radiation.
But there was a current of unstable energy just under the surface. His paranormal senses reacted to it the same way his normal senses would have if he had entered a room and caught the scent of smoke. He heightened his talent a little more and looked around, trying to identify the artifact that was giving off the ominous vibe. It took him a moment to realize that it was coming from a pile of plastic packets that were filled with some white powder. The products of Nyla’s drug lab, no doubt.
Tony shifted uneasily.
“Can’t you turn up the heat in here?” he said to Nyla.
Slater spoke before Nyla could respond.
“Mind explaining how you got the clones in and out of Fogg Lake without anyone noticing?” he asked. “In fact, how did you get Ms. LeClair here?”
Nyla flashed him an impatient look. “Why do you keep calling Tony and Jared clones?”
“It’s not important,” Slater said. “But I will admit I’m damned curious about how you were able to operate this lab and bring people in and out of the area without drawing the attention of the locals.”
Nyla’s mouth curved in an icy smile. “The partially flooded tunnel we used to get here continues for quite some distance underground. It’s navigable the entire way in a small boat. The exit point is concealed inside another cavern on the far side of the lake. There’s an abandoned logging road there that eventually connects to the old road down the mountain.”
“What changed?” Slater asked. “I assume something happened to convince you that it was worth taking the risk of kidnapping Olivia and Catalina.”
Nyla’s face lit with triumph. “I was contacted by a representative of an organization that recognizes my talent.”
“Vortex,” Slater said.
Nyla rounded on him. “I know what you’re going to say. That Vortex is just a legend, a myth attached to the stories of the lost labs. But I’ve got news for you. It was real all those years ago, and it will be real again.”
“Bullshit,” Slater said. “Someone is playing you.”
“That’s not true,” Nyla shouted.
“I don’t doubt that someone contacted you and claimed to represent Vortex, but the truth is, someone just wants to use you to take all the risks.”
“You haven’t got a clue,” Nyla said. “And neither does the Foundation. And that’s the way it needs to be, at least for now. But the truth is that Vortex is rising from the ashes and I have been offered a position as the director of a lab that will conduct the kind of cutting-edge paranormal research the Foundation refuses to do.”
“If you’ve got an offer like that, why didn’t you disappear again and set up shop in a Vortex facility?” Slater asked.
“Because there is a price to pay to be admitted into the inner circles of Vortex,” Nyla said. “In my case, that price is the Fogg Lake laboratory complex.”
“I would have thought this one chamber would have been more than enough to buy your way into Vortex,” Slater said. “There must have been a fortune in artifacts in this room when you found it.”
“Unfortunately someone else found it first,” Nyla said, disgusted. “Raiders, most likely. Or maybe someone in Fogg Lake discovered it and quietly sold off the artifacts. This chamber was almost empty when I arrived. The only things left were some workbenches and a few beakers. But it did provide me with the space and privacy that I needed for a halfway dec
ent lab.”
Slater looked around. “So the people claiming to be from Vortex are using you to find the Fogg Lake lab. You take all the risks. They stay in the shadows. Sweet. You do realize that as soon as you give them what they want, they will figure out that they don’t need you anymore, don’t you?”
Nyla turned to Tony. “Get rid of him.”
“About fucking time,” Tony said. He raised the gun.
“No,” Catalina said. She stared at Nyla. “You can’t do this. You have to stop now. You can’t keep killing people.”
Nyla did not take her attention off Tony. “Not in here. Do it out on the dock and dump the body in the river.”
“That’s how you instructed the killer to get rid of Morrissey’s body,” Slater said. “You know, it’s a mistake to do things the same way twice. Points to a pattern. The Foundation cleaners are really, really good when it comes to identifying patterns.”
“Get him out of here,” Nyla said.
“No,” Catalina said. “Please. I’ll do what you want. I’ll take you to the old power generator chamber.”
“You don’t need to kill him,” Olivia said. “Why risk having the Foundation launch an investigation? You can give him some of that drug you’re going to use on Catalina and me.”
“You mustn’t do this, Nyla,” Catalina said.
The plea for mercy sounded authentic, but Catalina’s voice had taken on the familiar eerie note. Slater recognized the haunted look that indicated she was having a vision. He knew she sensed what he planned to do.
“I said get rid of Arganbright,” Nyla snapped.
“Let’s go,” Tony said.
Slater did not move.
“I said move.”
Tony grabbed Slater’s shoulder, jerked him around and propelled him outside and onto the dock.
The physical contact provided the connection that allowed Slater to use his talent like a dagger. When they reached the end of the dock he struck hard and fast, using everything he had to overwhelm the triplet’s aura. This time he had full control.
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